After years of poor choices, hurt and loss from an addiction it may be difficult for the alcoholic or addict to hold on to previous beliefs in faith and God. However, it is precisely at this point where faith and God might be needed the most. Having faith or belief in God may help you remember your potential. It may help you realize that you can be and are more than this moment of drug or alcohol use. The following will list how someone with an addiction can regain and utilize their own understanding of faith and God in addiction recovery.

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Steps

1

Pray - Reconnect with life and that quiet but persistent voice inside you that is telling you to be more. Praying can help you by allowing you to remember the abilities and strengths you possess. If you are unsure how to pray or what to pray for, talk as if you are talking to a friend. Verbally processing issues can help in resolving them.

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2

Forgive Yourself - You may have asked for God’s help in the past and then turned it away because you did not feel worthy of it. What you are doing is not trusting that God really forgave you because you have not forgiven yourself yet. This often happens when we are "talking the talk" but not "walking the walk". We cannot lie to ourselves and we know when we are actively engaged in change. You start to forgive yourself when you actually stop drinking or using drugs and start leading a healthy life.

3

Don't blame - Someone caught up in an addiction may not want to realize or own their choices and behavior. They may want to blame it on something or someone else. Faith and God take the excuses away. Faith and God do not avoid responsibility. They challenge us to a higher ideal, a higher belief, a higher dream. They are our potential for something more. Addiction is a selfish pull away from faith and God and does not acknowledge ownership of choices. A belief in faith or God is an acknowledgement of fault and a trust in the capabilities for something more.

4

Practice trust - If you ask God for help, God does not forget about it, we do. Practice trusting that faith and God will prevail. Trust may be difficult when you first stop your addiction as you are use to shutting others out and only trusting yourself in order to protect yourself from hurt. To regain trust, begin by allowing yourself to trust one person. Do this completely (whether it is your Mom, Grandparent, etc). What this will teach you is that everyone you give trust to won’t hurt you.

5

Listen to your emotions - Emotions are the nerves to the soul. Emotions may be scary and unfamiliar at first as you have covered them with drugs or alcohol for so long. Your emotions are essential in changing your life. They will tell you when your life is off course. Listen to them. If you are having negative emotions, look at them as a signal that change is needed.

6

Don’t just focus on past problems - What you focus on, you will achieve and become. Do not allow past problems to define who you are. You are either moving toward a solution or still stuck on the problem. To focus on faith and God reflects what you want your life to represent and be about. Everyone makes mistakes, but you don’t have to focus on those mistakes for the rest of your life.

7

Focus on God, don't fight against Satan - Similar to the above step, be careful not to base your life only on the fear of some insidious disease. To continuously focus on avoiding the drug or alcohol monster makes this monster even stronger. If you constantly focus on the past pain and troubles of your drinking or drug use, this is what your life will be about, the pain and troubles of the past. We are what we focus on.

8

Don't confuse God's judgement with your own - Once you ask God to forgive you for the pain and hurt you caused by drinking and drugging, God does. Once forgiven, God does not remember your past mistakes or sins. They are gone, forgotten. You have a clean slate. Holding on to past pain may give you the excuse to continue to drink or drug again. Watch how you judge yourself as you need room for growth which comes from faith and God and the belief in something more.

9

Hold yourself accountable.- Don’t confuse your actions or the actions of others with faith or God’s desire or will to love or help you. You may feel that if you relapse you have failed or are unworthy of God’s help. Or you may only feel valued if you “follow the program”, remain sober or attend meetings. We are all different. We are all human and will make mistakes. Sometimes it is better to follow that voice that resonates deep within you than blindly follow someone else’s rules for “recovery”.

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Once you acknowledge faith and God you will realize that you now face the responsibility to change. You have to face yourself. You have to face the choice to use alcohol or drugs with no excuses. No more blaming God and no more lack of faith to keep yourself miserable and continue drinking or drugging. This can be difficult for many alcoholic or addicts as they will start to realize the pain and damage they have caused others and themselves. It is very difficult to face yourself as you have been. You may have created a separate facade or view of yourself as "I'm not that bad" when you were drinking or drugging. This facade will no longer be believable to you and you will feel like you have been left with no defences. Go easy on yourself, utilize support of family and friends and go at your own pace. You don't have to fix everything all at once. Remember, Faith and God are always within you and readily available. They are individual and personal to everyone and always present for the taking. All you need to do is believe.

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